Monday, December 15, 1969
Mediocrity
Calls For
Changes
Continued From Page 2
USE ALL MEANS
TO EFFECT CHANGE
It is incumbent upon students
to begin utilizing all means at
their disposal to effect changes
in Guilford which will create
an institution where those in
terested can learn as individuals
without undue restraints. If the
channels for change are not in
existence they should be made
and used. Nothing short of a
general commitment of change
will cause the college to move
in a positive direction. The ad
ministration must also make de
cisions to drop its role as baby
sitter, stop playing around with
being an athletic powerhouse,
and get down to the real busi
ness of providing educational op
portunities of a wide variety for
its students. The faculty needs
to make solid its commitment
to the students and their learning
experience, by intellectual open
ness, not one sided indoctrina
tion. In short the common com
mitment so often tossed around
must be made a reality or Guil
ford will continue to languish in
the throes of half - hearted
mediocrity.
Larry Elworth
Edgerton
Continued from Page 1
Section E: All dormitory gov
ernments shall operate in a
similiar manner.
Article X: Replacement of Of
ficers and Representatives
Section A: Officers
In case of the removal of
the President from Office, or
of his resignation or inability
to discharge the powers and
duties of said office, the same
shall devolve upon the Vice-
President. Student Legislature
of Guilford College may pro
vide for a vacancy irf the of
fices of President- and Vice-
President of the Men's Inter-
Dormitory Government. # The
Men's Inter-Dormttory Govern
ment may provide for a vacancy
in the office of the President
and Vice-President of "the dor
mitory governments.
Union Events
Dec. 16 Art Series Movie-"The
Trial," 8 p.m. Dana
Leadership Seminar-
Judge Frank Kaufman, Union
Lounge, 7-9 p.m.
Dec. 17 Eastern Coast Basket
ball Classic-Fayetteville
Dec. IS Eastern Coast Basket
ball Classic-Fayetteville
Dorms close 8 p.m.
1
GUILFORD IAN $
Staff Meeting ij:
Thurs. 6:30 p.m. :£
Cox Hall 224 |
Nader Defends Consumer Rights
By JEANETTE EBEL
' What is the rule of law for
the poor in the slums must be
the rule of law for a corpor
ation."
This is the message which
Ralph Nader brought to Guilford
Thursday, Dec. 4.
Nader is a " consumer advo
cate," a man who is seeking to
protect the average man, the blue
collar worker, from the abuses
of Impersonal corporations and
industries.
lUNG DISEASES
Nader has concerned himself
with the Black Lung disease of
coal miners and the Brown Lung
disease of textile workers.
Life support systems in space
capsules make it possible for
astronauts to survive in the at
mosphere of outer space, he
pointed out. Nader questions why
similar life support systems are
not used in mines and mills to
filter out damaging dusts. He
questioned the value system of
a country that puts different
values on human lives.
''Nixon is fond of talking about
the silent majority/ Nader said.
"But the Nixon administration
is forgetting about the most silent
majority of all, the blue collar
workers."
As a consumer advocate, Nader
has taken the task of defending
industrial workers against the
unsafe conditions of their jobs.
Nader and a group of law
students called "Nader's Raid
ers' ' attacked the FTC and de
manded the resignation of its
head Paul Rand Dixon.
Nader proposes an Office
of Consumer Protection com
posed of lawyers to replace the
FTC as protector of the con
sumer. The office would have
no regulatory powers but would
conduct studies on consumer ab
uses.
AUTO SAFETY
One of Nader's major concerns
is In the area of automobile
safety. ' There is nothing in this
country that compares to the
scale of auto accidents."
Each year on your highways,
55,000 are killed, 155,000 crip
pled, 4 1/2 million injured.
Nader maintains that it is
silly to put the blame on the
driver saying individuals should
be more careful when normal
human reflexes are 99.999%5afe.
Automobile accidents are
caused by unsafe autos. "The
country which has sufficient tech
nology to design a vehicle to
send a man to the moon has
not developed a safe automobile.
The country which has managed
to achieve technological ad
vances has not distributed these
advances to the public."
Until 1966, safety standards
•were set by the industry alone.
Automobiles are the last form
of transportation to be subjected
to meaningful safety standards.
Safety has been treated by
the industry as a "tack-on
device," Nader said. Often safety
features are made optional, yet
year after year the consumer
pays for style changes.
The greatest outrage, ac
cording to Nader, is the design
of the car bumper. This device,
originally designed to protect
the car, is now no more than an
"ornamental chrome eye-brow.''
When tested, bumpers collasped
at speeds no greater than 2.7
mph.
To Increase the outrage, the
Industry has produced a'" bumper
guard" to protect the bumper.
Buir.per guards are "a multi
million dollar industry spawned
THE GUILFORD IAN
RALPH NADER Photo E dgerton
out of the deficiency of the orig
inal product," Nader said.
"The kind of practice which
produces bumpers such as these
is criminal larceny," Nader said.
Another outrage, according to
Nader, is the designs of the out
side of cars. Fins and chrome
ornaments have caused injury
to pedestrians; yet, they continue
to appear in the new designs.
These designs are "the products
of depraved stylists allowed to
run rampant,'* Nader accused.
Career-In-Greensboro
The Greensboro Chamber of
Commerce and the Personnel
Association of the Greensboro
Area are co-sponsoring the
annual "Career-In-Greensboro
Day'' for college juniors and
seniors.
The date for the conference,
December 30th, was selected to
take advantage of the Christmas
holidays.
It will be held from 9 a.m.
to 4 p.m. in Elliott Hall at
The University of North Car
olina at Greensboro.
More than 35 Greensboro-area
Pictures Of
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Nader charged that the auto
repairs and services industry is
cheating the consumer. Nader
maintains that parts are designed
so that if one component fails,
whole parts must be replaced.
"In the United States an area
as large as New England is
under pavement," Nader
claimed, "and the concrete and
asphalt boys are just getting
warmed up." Yet, more highways
are needed to accomodate the in
creasing number of cars.
businesses and industries will
man display and information
booths, reports Arnold O. Law
ing, Jr., chairman of the proj
ect.
Last year, some 27 firms par
ticipated and attracted more than
189 college students.
The program is designed to
serve two very important needs;
first, to inform area students
of the many job opportunities
existing within the immediate
business complex; and, second,
to permit contacts between firm
representatives and high-caliber
potential employees.
Page 3
proportional growth of
ca>o ami highways will cease only
when public transportation is
made available and practical.
QUALITY OF FOOD
Nader also attacked the food
industry for using "deception"
in selling its products.
Only these things are neces
sary to make food saleable, Nader
claimed: it must be pallatable,
tender and visually attractive.
These standards can be met
easily, Nader claimed, ''through
the misuse of modern chemis
try. American made bread is
nothing more than a chemistry
plant."
Nader cautioned against buy
ing processed meats which are
made out of cereals and "4D,"
dead, disabled
animals.
The dishonesty of the meat
producing industry was exposed
half a century ago by Sinclair
Lewis in THE JUNGLE; yet,
Nader maintains many of the
same conditions still exist. Nader
charged that outrages such as
tumors being sold as brains are
still being committed.
In addition to the rising in
cidence of food born disease
and the crisis of wide scale
poor nutrition, Nader charged
that consumers are being cheated
by such practices as injecting
chickens with water. Although
he admits the difference in indi
vidual purchases may be only a
few ounces, he charges that the
poultry industry gains 33 mil
lion dollars each year from this
practice.
To demonstrate his point Nader
cited hot dogs, which used to
contain less than 17% fat, but now
contain anywhere from 35% to
SCX fat. Nader maintains that this
extra fat is more than expensive,
since fats have been shown to
increase heart and respiratory
diseases.
The food industry spends 16%
to 18% of its income on adverti
sing. Nader compared these
figures to the automobile industry
which spends only 3%.
ENVIROMENTAL POLLUTION
Nader defined pollution of air,
water and soil as "violence
against man, since human life
depends on the relative purity of
air, water and soil.
He emphasized the double
standards which exists between
laws controlling pollution by
individuals and pollution by cor
porations and cities.
' It is a strange society which
values rights of corporations ov
er the rights of individuals,"
Nader said.
STUDENT PARTICIPATION
"The students more than any
other class in our society are
free to inquire, research and
speak out," Nader said. There
fore, Nader maintains that there
is much that students can do to
Investigate the unfair treatment
of consumers.
Nader said students can
"develop net only a unique ed
ucational experience, but also
gain a feeling of what citizenship
in action is."
Nader encouraged students to
Investigate the textile and to
bacco industries, industrial pol
lltion and state government con
trols of it, claiming that "the
currency of democratic power
is information."